THE PHARMACOLOGY OF THE THYROID IN MAN

Abstract

Although more is known about the thyroid than about any other gland of internal secretion, many important problems concerning its physiology and pharmacology remain unsolved. For example, very little is known about the mechanism of the action of thyroxine, and more precise information should be obtained about the form or forms in which iodine occurs in the gland, the mechanism of the action of iodine in exophthalmic goiter, and the relationship between the thyroid and other glands of internal secretion, notably the pituitary. It was with the idea of throwing some light on these problems that the present series of observations was undertaken. THE RATE OF FORMATION OF THYROXINE Boothby and his co-workers¹ and we ourselves² have shown that about 0.25 mg. to 0.35 mg. of thyroxine must be injected intravenously every day in order to maintain the basal metabolism of patients with marked myxedema at the normal